How to Get Everything on Your To Do List Done

I'm a big time planner. I even schedule lunches and breaks, otherwise I get so busy with work, I simply forget to eat and rest.

Using my iPhone, I tried out Apple's Reminder's app that comes built-in to my mobile device. I didn't find it all that practical, or useful.

It wasn't very configurable, and it's kind of bland. Which is surprising coming from a company where design is usually so well thought out.

Then I stumbled upon Wunderlist -- an amazing -- repeat -- amazing -- task managing app, available for most mobile devices, and it has a web interface for using on a PC or a Mac.

With Wunderlist, I can create different lists, from everything for daily to-do's, to specific one-off tasks.

Wunderlist On the Desktop

And within each primary task, I can create sub-tasks, so those of you -- like me -- that feel a sense of accomplishment from checking off numerous items will get your reward.

The best thing about Wunderlist, aside from it being a FREE app, is it's simplicity.

Simply open the sliding panel if it isn't already expanded, to display your lists, and those the program creates for you by default -- called "Smart Lists." These Smart Lists automatically populate with the tasks you set by type, for example "Today" shows you all the items you've created that are due today.

You can create your own lists, add tasks to these lists, prioritize them, create due dates, even set reminder alarms via push, email or desktop notification.

My favorite feature is that Wunderlist syncs my lists across all my devices using the cloud, so it doesn't matter if I'm in front of my work or home PC, on the road with my iPhone, or anywhere for that matter -- I'll still get reminded of my to do's and be able to check them off as I complete them.

Wunderlist Mobile App

Wunderlist is clean and very easy to use -- the learning curve for me was less than the time it takes to order a pizza.

You can customize the background, the notifications and the names of the lists, as well, to make it fit your own personal preferences.

If you're like me, and get satisfaction from checking off items from a to do list, Wunderlist is worth a try.

Follow this link to get a FREE month of their Pro version: https://wunderli.st/1ZPL1j

Why BlackBerry Failed -- And It's Not What You Think

Last Friday BlackBerry announced the axing of 4,500 jobs and that they were taking the company private to restructure the troubled smart phone maker.

We've seen, heard and read about the ongoing problems sinking the once golden child of Canada's tech industry.

The Ottawa-based company just can't seem to get it right, every new product they release is ripped to pieces in the press.

Recently, news broke about how the company purchased a private jet, despite lagging sales and constantly falling stock prices. The story shocked us -- who goes out and spends millions on a private jet, when your company is tanking?

We shake our heads upon another sob story in the press about BlackBerry, and instantly blame that company's leadership team. It must be all their fault. 

To a degree, the leadership team is to blame. To a degree.

Whenever a company fails or succeeds, part of that failure or success can be directly attributed to the decisions at the top.

But there is more going on here than bad management -- there's a whole lot more which is actually well beyond the leaders, the managers, or even the staff.

It's public perception, driven by a media machine which is designed to kill successes.

Our news media loves a great story, and many successful stories are sexy enough to sell ad spots as they scream their successful headlines.

But those success stories aren't very common and don't have legs. Once you report on a company's success, it becomes stale news. Who wants to keep hearing about the millions Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made, or the wonders coming out of Tesla Motor's Elon Musk mind?

BORING!

But tell the world about a tech giant's fall -- that's hot! That story can be spun for weeks, months, and even years.

Think about it -- what draws more of a crowd -- a crane hauling metal up to the floors of a building being built, or a man counting down the detonation of a building about to be blown to pieces?

We like watching things blow up. Watching things go "boom" is fun. It's part of our DNA.

SO when the vulturous media gets hold of a story about a company that's about to go "boom" they drop everything and feed that destruction.

No one wants BlackBerry to fail. But because things that go "boom" are more exciting than anything else, once a company enters that slippery slope towards doom, the media will continue the push down that slope.

BlackBerry has come out with some remarkable pieces of new tech over the past few months, but not if you read the reviews of their new tech.

Every tech reviewer has biasly slashed the wrists of the once popular smartphone company, even if their new tech is pretty good, by harping on the tech's failings.

BlackBerry itself was rebranded -- it was originally known as Research in Motion or RIM -- in an attempt to distance itself from it's negative about to go "boom" image.

But once labeled a problem child, it's hard to unstick that label, and the media continued to focus on the newly minted BlackBerry's troubled past.

And so regardless of what BlackBerry does, it will fail.

It can't win.

Which is really unfortunate, because BlackBerry has been working hard to change things around.

But perception is reality.

Even it it isn't.

Despite Our iSociety, If You Want to Grow Professionally, You've Got to Do It Face-to-Face

I use the Azumio Heart Rate Monitor
iPhone App to measure my heart rate.

I love my iPhone.

I really do, it is my life. 

I wake up to my own custom alarms, check my heart rate when I wake, when I work, and before I go to sleep. It even reminds me to drink enough water throughout the day, tells me where and when I'm supposed to be, keeps me from getting lost, and warns me when the skies are about to open up so I know to take cover from an approaching storm.

Apple's iPhone was the spring that bounced in a whole new world -- one so dependent on personal mobile tech, we sometimes -- correction -- we OFTEN -- forget there are others in our world.

And that's really tragic, because rarely do we as individuals excel. Although everyone remembers Steve Jobs, none of your Apple devices were created single-handedly by him. Even Mark Zuckerberg's concepts didn't solely create the Facebook timeline we so love to hate today. And do you really think Sir Richard Branson could have created a record store, an airline, a telecommunications company and now a spaceship all by himself?

We live in an iSociety dominated world.

If you want to grow your brand, your business, or even just yourself, you've got to get out there and mix and mingle in the real world, with real people.

I'm not talking about cheating using instant messaging services like Skype, and don't even get me started on the dangers of limiting yourself to 140 characters in a tweet, or some poorly shot 'selfie' on Instagram.

Don't be afraid to spill some coffee, and get some sticky sugary crumbs all over that mobile device, because the only way to be anything in this world, is to step outside our self-created iSociety to live, work and play with real people.

I'm doing this now, as I do what many do when they start-up a new company, I'm linking in with people in the real world that I think may be the right people to grow that business. I'm reaching out to people that catch my eye, and making the owners of numerous coffee shops orgasmic with delight as I take the time to meet with as many people as I can, to chat in a relaxed unhurried cafe, to learn about someone that has what I need, and see if I can help them with their needs.

And that's really what business is all about -- helping each other.

Even Skype and other forms of video calls don't solve
the problems created by our mobile world.

Be it joining forces to create the next big thing, mentoring each other, or even just referring someone to another person, there really is truth to the saying: 

It's not what you know, but who.

Which is where our iSociety fails -- how well can you really ever know anyone just from the online world?

Emoticons are cute, but don't convey the whole gamut of facial expressions, which can vary from culture to culture.

Spill coffee together to really get to
know someone, to grow your business
and you.

Video conferencing solves that problem, but not very well, because body language is just that -- body language, encompassing the whole body. So someone's face may say "tell me more" but it's out of context without the rest of the body, which may actually be saying just the opposite.

And regardless of how advanced our tech becomes at bringing us closer together, there's something to be said for the shared experiences of being in the moment with someone.

I can share with you the experience of being on a rollercoaster, using my iPhone's camera and mic, and a WiFi signal. But unless you are ON that same rollercoaster, you won't experience it the same as I do, with all the bumps, and jolts, and LOOK OUT FOR THAT . . . 

Grow yourself today, right now. Invite someone you've only ever had virtual online connections with to join you over a coffee.

You'll be glad you did.